Carrot by-product fermentation quality and aerobic spoilage could be modified with silage additives

Abstract

Vegetable by-products could potentially be suitable to be used as feeds in animal diets, which in general would strengthen the sustainability of both food and feed systems. Two experiments were performed with the objective to evaluate the aerobic spoilage via visual inspection and short term ensiling process of carrot by-products with silage additives (lactic acid bacteria [LAB] inoculants or formic acid [FA]). In the first experiment (Exp. 1), carrot by-product was treated with five additives including a control without additive, two commercial LAB inoculants (heterofermentative and homofermentative), an in-house isolated LAB mixture and a commercial FA based product. Second experiment (Exp. 2) used a 2 × 3 factorial design (type of raw material [carrot by-product with or without pieces] and additive treatment [control, heterofermentative LAB inoculant or FA based product]). Use of FA restricted lactic acid fermentation indicated by the high residual water soluble carbohydrate concentration while simultaneously stimulating ethanol production. LAB inoculants were not able to efficiently affect quality of ensiled carrot by-products. Use of FA also delayed the spoilage of the fresh carrot by-product particularly in Exp. 1.